Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I just find this case to be extraordinary. Often, examples have to be used to get under the bonnet and see what is happening and how resources are being deployed. On the face of it, it seems this is an extraordinary use or misuse of resources.

I am not satisfied. A hundred or so people are suspended. Some people are suspended for a very long time, which could be for justifiable reasons, but I am not convinced the three-month review is happening to the extent it should be if something like this can go on for the length of time it did, given the level of resources used for something of this nature. Given the nature of policing at community level, that would have seemed like a reasonable thing to do.

The approximately €7 million tax bill that was settled with Revenue was discovered by an internal audit. It feels like there is a bit more to this than meets the eye. I would have thought it was reasonable for people’s costs to be covered and that they would not be treated in the normal course of events as benefit-in-kind. Will the Commissioner give an insight into what happened?